Brammetje, the world-famous station cat in Weidevenne and the surrounding area, has disappeared without a trace. Two eyewitnesses report to NH that Brammetje was taken away early Wednesday morning by an unknown man. “Normally Brammetje always eats a lot, but on Wednesday evening his food bowl was unopened,” says owner Anneke Rost.
Janet Kuperus-Kerpentier works for the NS and has therefore seen Brammetje hanging around at Purmerend-Weidevenne station for years. Also early yesterday morning, around 6.00 am. She sees little Bram sitting on a woman’s lap. The woman has a child in a pram with her and a man is standing next to her. He seems to fit in.
Janet says: “The moment the woman gets up and continues to hold the cat, I keep an eye on it. I see that the woman walks towards the stairs and elevator and hands the cat over to the man. This man then sprints with the cat from the stairs and gets into a kind of gray sports car a little further on and drives off. The woman walks back and then gets on the train with the pram.”
Kuperus-Kerpentier addresses the woman, who looks at her vaguely as if she doesn’t understand her. “She also did not answer my question in English. Then I said I saw what happened and the cat needs to come back.” At the next station, Kuperus-Kerpentier goes looking for the woman, but can no longer find her. She immediately sends a message via the Bram’s Facebook page to warn the Rost family.
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Eyewitness
Brammetje’s owner posts a message on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening, in which she asks if people have seen anything. Soon Conny Otte-Hoek reports. She takes the train from Weidevenne station about three times a week: “It was still quiet at the station. A man and woman approached with a pram. She had a cat under her arm. I immediately thought: ‘What is that’s it, is that bramble?'”
Conny decides to take a look. “You don’t immediately think of a kidnapping. I know he has owners, but I don’t know what they look like. I thought maybe he should go to the vet.”